Events Calendar > November 2009 > Saturday 21 > 2009 World Women's Golf Croquet Championship

• Location: Cairnlea, Victoria, Australia
• Event Type: International tournament
• Start Date: Sat, 21st Nov 2009
• End Date: Sat, 28th Nov 2009

Selections
Commentary
Video of final
Videos of other games
Summary of results

New Zealand selections

Automatic Selection
Jenny Clarke (Canterbury) (as semifinalist from 2007)

Allocation (including wildcards who have now been selected)
Mavis Brogden (Taranaki)
Erica Stephens (Hawkes Bay)
Alison Wall (Manawatu)
Ann Sharp (Otago)
Phyllis Young (Thames Valley)
Dallas Cooke (Thames Valley)
Marlene McCaa (Nelson)
Sue Roberts (Bay of Plenty)
Gwen Salisbury (Taranaki)
Laura Whittaker (Canterbury)
Ashley Cooke (Thames Valley)

Croquet Australia site with live results
WCF site
Croquet Victoria site

Reports from Jenny & Chris Clarke

Friday 20^th

I drove past the croquet club three times today, but there was no play. The only practice is between 10 and 2 tomorrow. The grass quality on the lawns appears to be much better than 2 years ago, but despite the recent dry hot weather, the lawns were all very green.

The temperature this morning was around 30 degrees and felt almost unbearable to me - much worse than the 38 in Egypt. Fortunately, there was light rain this afternoon which made conditions more breathable. The weather here appears to completely random. I remember playing here in 2006 on about 15th Nov when the hail was coming down sideways and I couldn't feel my hands.

The forecast is for rain tomorrow and then a gradual increase in temperature to maybe 39 next week. I don't know what will happen with regard to games stopping if it does get that hot.

Anyway, the opening ceremony is tomorrow and we have been promised a performance of Waltzing Matilda from a local school choir, and a "gourmet" bbq for $25, so plenty to look forward to. Play officially starts on Sunday.

Chris

WWGCC Saturday 21^st

Today was official practice day and the opening ceremony. The lawns were all full between 10.00 and 14.00 as the players honed their skills. The lawns ranged from 8.5 to 9.5 Plummers and the hoops were set in fresh holes which became pretty floppy after about an hour.

The lawns are still a bit rolly, but have decent grass quality and look as if they just need a bit more use to become 10+ seconds.

The players meeting was good fun and the players are to be congratulated on getting changes to several very silly managerial decisions (e.g. practice before 8.30am without running hoops, then no play between 8.30 and 9.00). The discussion went something like,

P: “but what happens between 8.30 and 9.00?”
M:”the hoops will be reset”
P: “but you’ve told us they will all be set the previous evening and that we can’t run hoops in our morning practice”
M: “well, we’ve agreed you can’t play after 8.30”
Etc etc.

The opening ceremony started with three very cute Australian songs featuring sheep, kangaroos and gum trees from a local primary school choir. We then had the parade of flags and the welcoming speeches, including the official opening of both the tournament and the VCC, before the introduction of players. The choir then sang Waltzing Matilda and then we had a demonstration match between Robert and Malcolm Fletcher. The day was rounded off with a gourmet BBQ. All in all, a very pleasant start to the event and a great chance to catch up with many friends from around the globe.

Play starts at 9.00 tomorrow.

Chris

p.s. I have worked out why it was hot yesterday. It wasn’t 30 degrees, it was 43. It is currently raining heavily.

Video of opening ceremony, demonstraton game and day 1.

WWGCC Sunday 22^nd

The first day of the third women's GC worlds has seen the players battling heavy rain, strong winds and cold. The lawns have held up very well to the frequent downpours and there has been no sign of puddles apart from on the south boundary of lawn 8.

With such un-Egyptian conditions, it has been a slow start for many of the Egyptian players. Sherine has lost to Kay Chynoweth and defending champion Iman dropped the first to Sue Leitenger who had previously beaten Australian Women's Champ Rosemary Graham. Sue Beattie beat Sarah Riad.

Jenny Clarke looked very strong in her match against Wilma Bonnar and the Kiwis have had a pretty good day. Ashley Cooke had a very good win against Elizabeth Allen and Alison Sharp and Alison Wall both won their first matches. The youngest player in the event, Laura Whittaker went down in 3 close games to the experienced Margaret Melville.

Tess Burt was thrilled with her victory against Phyllis Young and Kath Burt had a good win against Wendy Dickson. There has been some pretty decent play considering the unpleasant playing conditions.

I should also mention the volunteers (probably about 40 of them) who have ensured that all the games have referees and scorers and that everyone is fed and watered.

So, all still to play for – let’s hope for some better weather.

Chris

Monday 23^rd

Day two of the champs saw much improved weather. The rain had gone and was replaced by occasional sunshine and light breezes (Rob would say strong!!).

With much easier playing conditions, the overall standard of play wasn't as high as I had expected and the Egyptians have still to hit top gear. Four players are still unbeaten - Abir Moustafa, Jenny Clarke, Nihal Ahmed and Alix Verge. I will try and watch Nihal today.

Other good performances include;
Kay Chynoweth who beat both her Egyptians (but then lost to Dallas Cooke and Margaret Melville)
Margaret Melville who is 3/3
Sue Beattie who has beaten Sarah Riad, Phyllis Young and Creina Dawson
Mavis Brogden who is 3/3
Ashley Cooke who has beaten Soumaya Saad and Elizabeth Allen
Judy Wembridge who has beaten Soumaya Saad and Tricia Devlin
Kath Burt who has beaten Wendy Dickson and Anne Taves

It's another bright sunny start to today (Tuesday), so hopefully we'll see some really good play today as the battle for qualification heats up.

Chris

Tuesday 24^th

Hi all,

Well, since Chris is snoozing, I thought I'd type a few words about the women's GC today.

Today was warm and sunny. Lawns must have sped up to at least 9.8 Plummers. Hoops still leap out of the way if sufficiently threatened, and some Egyptians have resorted to asking for all hoops they intend to run from distance being knocked down. Flies horrible, but Chris says I know nothing and should have experienced Rich River at the last Mac.

Couple of refereeing incidents today, main one was an unfortunate bit of advice "don't play yellow, play your blue ball", although the striker was apparently just having a nosey. Would be marvellous to get the refs to put a few markers down for questionable strokes, but on the whole they are ok. There was another incident involving different laws between Egypt and the WCF rules which I don't know too much about, though I do deeply sympathise with the Egyptian ladies when there are problems as their English, while generally conversationally ok, is not that strong.

Play today was scrappy, with a few upsets, and definitely not attributable to the conditions. I had a win in a well-fought match with Liz Fleming who went on to beat Salwa at the 13th hoop and qualify for the KO, but was poor against Christine Pont, and thus she qualified for the KO also. The youngest player in the tournament, Laura Whittaker, went out today with a loss to Kay Chynoweth, while the other kiwi teenager, Ashley Cooke, looks strong to take a place in the last 32. It's a shame for Laura who had shots at hoop 13 for match wins against Margaret Melville and Sherine Hamdi, and drew big crowds of spectators with her confident, powerful play.

Of the Egyptians, I was on a neighbouring lawn from Iman for one round and was impressed with her hoop running and general play. Abir Moustafa has also had a very good tournament so far, winning all her games. Samia, Sherine, Soumaya are all in a bit of trouble qualifying while the following players are currently unbeaten on matches: Iman, Marwa, Manal, Shaden, Alix Verge, Abir. Some other non-Egyptians who have impressed so far include: Anna Sharp (NZ), Margaret Melville (Australia), Anne Taves (USA), Kay Chenoweth (Australia), Kath Burt (England), and particularly Sue Beattie. Erica and Carole are also playing very strongly as is to be expected.

With one round left to play tomorrow morning, and all the 7th seeds having the morning off, there is still some confusion about the exact nature of the tie-breaker for the qualifying places (this was one of the longer discussions in the players meeting). So far we know:
1. match wins
2. game wins (presume this is net games, though the ACA website shows only total game wins) 3. net points 4. who beat whom 5. managers decision (will only be needed for three way tie on net points - highly unlikely).

I'm assuming (famous last words) that it's net games, and offer the following opinion on the current standings:

Block A:
Through: Iman El Faransawi, Rosie Graham, Ann Sharp (go kiwi!)
DNQ: Jola, Sue Leitenger
Playoff for 4th spot: Samia Mahmoud v Susan Sands (i.e. one spot left and these two to play each other tomorrow)

Block B:
Through: Marwa Moustafa, Abir Moustafa, Erica Stephens (assuming net games, but doing well on net points also)
DNQ: Anne Quinn
Undecided: Judy Evans (currently on 2 wins, 5 games, -3 net games, -11 net points, to play Erica tomorrow) Alison Wall (currently on 2 wins, 5 games, -2 net games, -10 net points, to play Anna Miller tomorrow) Anna Miller (currently on 1 win, 5 games, -4 net games, -15 net points, playing Alison tomorrow)

Block C:
Through: Hemmat Mostafa, Margaret Melville, Kay Chenowyth
DNQ: Laura Whittaker, Ros Pimlott
Playing for 4th spot: Sherine Hamdi and Dallas Cooke (go kiwi!!) (assuming net games, else it could be a net points countback if Dallas wins 2-1)

Block D:
Through: Jenny Clarke, Salwa Saleh, Christine Pont, Elizabeth Fleming
DNQ: Gwen Salisbury, Clare Stableford, Wilma Bonnar

Block E:
Through: Manal Ali Mohsen, Sarah Riad, Sue Beattie
DNQ: Marlene McCaa, Tess Burt
Playing for 4th spot: Phyllis Young needs to annihilate Creina Dawson to go thru (currently Creina is up by 2 games, 4 net games, and 12 netpoints)

Block F:
Through: Shaden Okasha, Mavis Brogden, Pam Gentle, Jane Shorten (clearly enjoying not having to also run the tournament this year!)
DNQ;: Genny Vandersluys, Anne Oxton, Jacky McDonald

Block G:
Through: Carole Jackson only
DNQ: Nerida Taylor only
Big messy playoff for three places:
Soumaya (currently on 2/5, playing Carole so toughest match) Elizabeth Allen (currently on 2/5, to play Trivia Devlin, and on poor net games) Tricia Devlin (currently on 3/5 and to play Elizabeth) Ashley Cooke (currently on 3/5, and playing Nerida - go kiwi!!) Judy Wembridge (in the clubhouse on 3/5) my guesses: Ashley, Tricia and Judy

Block H:
Through: Nihal Ahmed, Alix Verge
DNQ: Sue Roberts, Rosemary Newsham
In the running for for 3rd and 4th:
Wendy Dickson (currently 2/5, 5 games, -1 net game, 0 net points, to play Anne Taves) Anne Taves (currently 3/5, 7 games, +3 net games, +16 net points, to play Wendy) Kath Burt (currently 3/5 6 games, +2 net games, +17 net points, to play Sue Roberts) my picks: Anne as Wendy would need to annihilate her, and Kath as Sue is having a tough time in this tournament, and since Anne's looking good

Since Chris is still asleep, here's the current standings by nation of how it's going Columns are: 1. Country
2. Starting number of players from that country in tournament (taking into account that Nerida Taylor (Aust) is playing rather than Josie Jackson (USA) 3. Number of players from that country remaining (includes those still with a chance to qualify)

That leaves 40 players, with the kiwi and Australian ranks likely to be significantly depleted as we determine the last 32.

Tomorrow we have the final round of block play, a quick(?) meeting of the event seeding committee (KO placings determined by seeding committee as in 2007, not block placings), then the knockout starts (first 3 rounds best of three, next couple are best of 5). The plate event also starts tomorrow and I believe it to be a flexible Swiss (hurrah). Am sincerely hoping the players in the plate will receive a briefing on what this format entails, as I spent a fair bit of time in Ireland last time explaining to people who had lost their first Swiss game in the plate that they weren't knocked out of the event - communication with the players is really key to running a successful flexible Swiss, and provided that is done, and that the manager swiftly gets games on, it's an excellent format.

Well that's it for me. Had a good practice this evening, so am expecting to be back on form tomorrow :-)

Regards to all

Jenny

I should add to Jenny's very thorough report that Sue Leitinger is very unlucky not to have qualified. There will be many players who have played much worse who will make it into the last 32.

The lawns are now approaching 10 seconds and the significant hills are starting to become apparent. If the lawns reached 13, there would be patches that some would consider "unplayable". Apparently there is drop of over 12 inches from one corner of the club to the other. This means that South to North shots are all uphill and has led to several approaches to 13 finishing short.

All the top seeds have had patches of bad play, so I'll stick with my original guess of Manal and Iman.

Chris

Wednesday 25^th

Another lovely day for weather saw the competition hot up. The knockout started around 1pm after the blocks had been completed. Thirteen of the 16 matches went according to seeding, with the upsets being Anne Taves beating Mavis Brogden, Rosemary Graham beating Carole Jackson and Pam Gentle beating Salwa Saleh.

There were also sterling efforts from Alison Hall, Ashley Cooke, Ann Sharp and Judy Wembridge who all took their Egyptians to 3.

Tomorrow sees the last 16 and quarter finals which are both best of 3. We have 9 Egyptians, 4 Aussies, 2 Kiwis and a Yank left.

One of the keys may well be how many non-Egyptians can survive until the forecast rain and wind arrives.

Chris

Brief clips of Manal Ali Mohsen, Anne Taves, Creina Dawson, Nihal, Ann Sharp and Sue Leitinger

Brief clips of Marwa Mostafa, Jane Shorten, Salwa Saleh, Liz Fleming, Ann Sharp and Christine Pont

Thursday 26^th

A day that had everything. Heat, humidity, rain, wind, lightning and plenty of flies.

However, these did not stop the ladies from putting on a real show today. Jenny Clarke quickly disposed of Sherine Hamdi 7-4 7-3 and Shaden beat Rosemary Graham 7-1 7-6.

Pam Gentle continued her excellent event by taking Marwa to a decider, but lost 7-3. Australia did have something to cheer, though as Margaret Melville beat the number 3 seed Hemmat in straight games and Alix Verge beat Nihal.

Anne Taves had a real tussle with Manal reaching 4-4 in the decider before losing 7-4.

However, the match of the tournament so far was between defending champion Iman and Erica Stephens. Erica took a 6-4 lead in the first with powerful clearances and good tactics, but a failure at rover was costly as Erica went on to lose six consecutive hoops to lose the 7-6 and go 3-0 down in the second. Fine clearances allowed Erica to equalise at 4-4, but Iman took a 6-4 lead. A fantastic jump shot and some excellent tactical play at 12, gave Erica the comeback to level the match.

The third never really reached the high standard of the first two and the defending champ won 7-2. Erica has become a much more rounded player in the last two years and mixes her naturally aggressive game better with positional play and caution. She will be a future medallist. Iman is a slightly different player than in 2007. She is much more aggressive and plays with a huge degree of confidence. She is the most powerful hitter in the event.

The last match to finish was between Abir and Sarah. It lasted 6 hours including a 40 minute lightning break, before Abir won on the final hoop.

The quarter finals saw what should have been a fantastic match between Manal and Jenny. Unfortunately, Manal never really got into gear and Jenny played very well to win 7-5, 7-3.

Margaret took Shaden to three, but lost the decider 7-3. Alix kept the Aussie dream alive by beating number two seed Marwa 5-7 7-5 7-3. She is playing a different type of game to the other players, taking on hoops from almost anywhere. She ran hoop 2 from 1 and 4-b from 3-b whilst I was watching and on neither occasion did the oppo have a ball close to the hoop.

The last match to finish was another thriller involving Iman and Abir. Abir took a 6-5 lead in the decider, but it was not enough to stop the world champion progressing to another semi-final.

Tomorrows matches are best of 5s. The first semi is between Iman and Jenny (a repeat of 2007). The second semi is between Alix and Shaden.

I believe rain and wind are forecast for the afternoon.

Chris

Friday 27^th

Lovely weather for todays best of 5 semi-finals. The first semi started at 11am and matched Alix Verge and Shaden. As I mentioned in a previous posting, Alix uses different tactics to the other players - in her own words "my tactic is to hit the ball straight". We were therefore treated to hoop 2 from near A-baulk as a starter followed by 4-b from 3-b as a main course. Shaden was competitive in all the games, but Alix was always the better shot. The games were somewhat slow (Alix is the slowest player), but played at a reasonable level. Alix took the first two games (the second with a fantastic jump shot) and then they broke for "lunch". At 4pm (5hours after starting) they started the third game.

Meanwhile.....

At 1pm, Iman and Jenny started their match. Jenny continued her good form and Iman failed a few hoops in the first which Jenny won 7-3. Iman started playing towards her best in the second which she won 7-5. The third game was great quality. Jenny always had control, leading 5-3. However, Iman ran 9 from the boundary and went on to level at 6-6. An impressive 5 yard 40 degree 13 gave Iman the 2-1 lead. Jenny continued to apply the pressure and took the match to a 5th with a 7-5 win. So, having given the other match 2 hours headstart, these two had now finished 4 games to the other matches 2. In the decider, Iman took a 4-2 lead and the key shot was probably when Jenny failed an easy jump at 7, to allow Iman to take a 5-2 and subsequent 6-2 lead. Much clearing followed and the score was soon 6-5, but Iman took her first chance at 12 to reach her third consecutive final. Well played to both players who set the standard for others to try and emulate.

Back to the first semi and it was now 6-6 in the third. Alix ran another good hoop to become the first Aussie to ever reach a World final - congratulations on a great performance.

So, tomorrow will see the fastest player against the slowest. Neither has lost a match in the event so far. Alix knows she will be underdog - she said after her match "I'm pleased I wasn't in the other match, this half was much easier!" Alix can be assured of strong home support, but I expect Iman to win 3-1.

Chris

Saturday 28^th

The final day of the womens worlds. First up was the 3rd/4th place play-off between Shaden and Jenny. Jenny maintained her excellent form and won comfortably 7-1 7-3. This did not bode well for Alix who had squeezed past Shaden in three close games.

The final of the plate was between Anne Quinn and Laura Whittaker. Laura had been playing some really good stuff and had won 3 games against the formidable Mavis Brogden. However, she missed a few shots in the final and Anne played completely solidly to ensure that the pressure was always maintained to record a 7-5 7-5 win. Congratulations to Anne on a great win after what must have been a very disappointing set of block results.

The final started at 12 and (as in several previous days) Iman got off to a slow start, going 4-2 down. She continued to miss the odd hoop and clearance and Alix maintained her ability to run 3 to 4 yard hoops. Alix has probably been the best player in the event at this range and definitely the best player at 20+ yards. Alix took the first 7-6 (I hope to post a full video of this game).

Iman started to find some of her better play over the next two games and never looked in danger, winning 7-5 7-3.

At 2.40ish the players broke for "lunch". Iman was once again slow to get into her stride and the game went to the 13th hoop where Alix played an excellent positional shot to 2 feet straight which was enough to level the match.

Iman was dominant in the fifth. An initial shot to 2 feet in front of 1, helped Iman to a 2-0 lead. Her tactical play at 2 (this might have been game 4), showed the complete lack of this element in Alix's game, but she didn't really make the most of it. However, Iman managed to extend her lead to 4-0 and took a very aggressive line at 5, failing a long hoop. Alix got a point back and hoop six was fairly evenly contested until a downpour forced the players into raingear and the temperature dropped substantially. From this point on, Iman never really looked comfortable. Alix got back to 5-3 down, but Iman got in the jaws of 9. Alix refused a long range jump and Iman took a 6-3 lead. Alix did well to get back to 5-6, at which stage Iman took a very aggressive shot (needlessly imo) which enabled Alix to take the Championship to the deciding hoop.

Imans first positional didn't look great - it was about 5 feet at an acute angle. Alix played very deep (maybe even to the boundary) and the other two balls played in. Iman then played an excellent shot to get in the front of the jaws from the acute angle. Alix was in major trouble. There was only one option - a double jump from near/on the boundary. Surely not?

Kapow!!! The Barnes Wallace was absolute perfection and the Aussies went wild to acclaim their first ever world champion. It was about as spectacular an ending as you could have dreamt of.

Firstly, many congratulations to Alix. As stated above, she was the best player in certain areas of the game. What I am about to say, is not meant to detract from her excellent win in any way. I was a little disappointed that Iman didn't win. I have been trying to defend GC from its detractors for the last two years. I have been adamant that there are tactics and also that they are hugely important in achieving results. Unfortunately, this result tends to indicate that pure physical ability is enough which I find slightly disappointing. The Egyptians were left shaking their heads saying "but she did not play GC - no tactics".

On a positive note, I hope Alix's fantastic performance is the spur to many more players to try their hand at GC. She showed that with enough natural talent, anything is possible.

I will try and post some of Alix's magnificent jump shots to youtube when I'm back in NZ.

Chris

Video of final

Some footage of game 2 and a tactical battle in game 4

Game 4 of 2009 Womens World Golf Croquet Champs. Hoops 4 to 7

Game 4 of the final of the Womens World Golf Croquet Champs 2009. Hoops 7 to 10

End of game 4 and some of game 5

The finish

Videos of other games

The end of the marathon last-16 match between Abir Mostafa and Sarah Riad

Random footage of Samia Mahmoud, Susan Sands, Ashley Cooke and Sherine Hamdi

The first 6 hoops of the first game of the quarter-final between Marwa and Alix (first of three clips)

The second clip of the first game of the quarter final between Marwa and Alix

The end of the first game of the quarter final between Marwa and Alix

The quarter final between Abir and Iman. We join the action at 5-5 in the deciding third game

The end of the quarter final between Abir and Iman

Results summary

  Search this Site